Crushing or pulverizing apparatus.



No. 821,421. PATBNTED MAY 22, 1906.

W. KITTO. GRUSHING OR PULVERIZING APPARATUS.

APLPLIGATION FILED JAN. 6, 1905.

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- WALTER KITTO, OF BARNES, LONDON, ENGLAND.

CRUSHING OR PULVERIZING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

'ratented May 22, 1906.

Application filed January 6, 1905. Serial No. 289,837-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER KITTO, en-

gineer, a subject of the King of Great Britam, residing at 14 Lonsdaleroad, Barnes, in the county of London, England, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Crushing or Pulverizing Apparatus, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to crushing or pulverizing apparatus of thekind already designed by me, in which there is a casing or under framehaving at its upper part an annular crushing-path upon which a sphere orspheres are adapted to roll or travel during the crushing operation,motion being imparted to said spheres by the frictional contacttherewith of a superposed rotary bell-shaped or other suitably-formeddevice or propeller driven by a central upright shaft through aball-and-socket arrangement, said propeller having a certain amount ofresiliency or freedom of vertical movement on the shaft against theresistance of a spring or springs situated near the upper part thereof.

According to my present invention I provide below the lower end of theaforesaid upright shaft an adjustable spring-controlled support orfootstep, and at a suitable point on the said upright shaft I provide anadjustable buffer-spring. By appropriately adjusting these springs I canvery efiiciently regulate the pressure of the bell-shaped propeller onthe sphere or spheres and also the degree of longitudinal movement ofthe said propeller during the grinding operation, so that the working ofthe apparatus is rendered smooth and free from unnecessary jarring. Insome cases the adjustment of the said spring-controlled footstep may beeffected by hydraulic or pneumatic pressure, and in the latter case thespring would be unnecessary.

The crushing path or surface upon which the sphere or spheres work maybe made of chilled steel or other appropriate metal, as in mypreviously-constructed apparatus; but instead of making said surface toextend laterally over the entire working surface I leave a portion ofthe said surface near the upper edge unhardenedthat is to say, ofordinary cast-iron, of which the said casing of the apparatus iscomposedthus preventing the sphere 0r spheres from unevenly wearing awaythe crushing path. This chilled or hardened surface may either be madeintegral with the casing or may be made separately and secured in placeby any suitable means. The lower or active edge of 'the said bell-shapedpropeller may be made detachable by providing said edge with lugs, whichare adapted to enter corresponding openings in the propeller and whichare held in place by keys or cotters driven through holes in the lugsand the propeller.

When the apparatus is intended for use in grinding or crushing drymaterial, such as cement, I provide for the circulation of a draft orcurrent of air in the apparatus, as hereinafter described, and at asuitable part of the air-supply pipe or conduit I may provide an openingor tube through which the surrounding air of the atmosphere may beinduced to flow by the current of air passing through said air-supplypipe or conduit, thus assisting in keeping the said circulating currentof air cool.

In order that my said invention may be clearly understood and readilycarried into effect, I will describe the same more fully with referenceto the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a sectional elevationof the improved crushing apparatus. Figs. 2 and 3 are sectionalelevations showing modified forms of the spring controlled footstep.Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view of the apparatus, showing how the airis supplied thereto when said apparatus is used for dry grinding. Inthis figure is also shown the chilled or hardened surface of thecrushing-path and the detachable connection of the lower or active edgeof the bell-shaped propeller to the body portion thereof.

I11 all the figures like letters of reference in' dicate similar parts.

A is the under frame or casing of the apparatus, supporting thecrushing-path A. A is the sphere, which is adapted to roll on said pathduring the crushing operation, and B is the rotary bell-shaped propellerfor driving said sphere. Any suitable number of the said spheres may beemployed. The said propeller is supported by a ball-and-socket device Bone member of which is keyed to the vertical shaft C and the othermember (form ing part of the propeller) engages therewith by suitableprojections and recesses, as is well understood 1n connection withcrushing ap- Pamiius Of this d. 0 C are disks of indial rubber or othersuitable resilient material arranged. around the upper end of the shaftC abovethe propeller and adapted to permit of a certain amount ofvertical and lateral move- When the apparatus is intended to deal withdry material, the said hood or covering is connected, by means of anexit conduit or conduits A Fig. 4, to a oollectingchamber of theordinary kind. (Not shown in the drawings.)

A is the conduit or conduits for supplying air to the crushing-path, ashereinafter described, suitable fans or blowers being provided fordrawing or forcing the air currents through the said conduits.

I will first describe the portion of my invention relating to theadjustable footstep, for which purpose reference will be had to Figs. 1,2, and 3, The lower bearing A is mounted in a surrounding casing whichis bolted to the sole-plate A of the under frame A and is provided witha downward elongation a for the reception of a movable platform orpiston a, upon which the spring a of said support or footstep bears. Thelower end of the shaft C is curved at c, and there is interposed betweenthe upper end of the spring a and the said curved end of the shaft amushroom headed plunger 0, which bears against the said curved end ofthe shaft. The platform or piston a is guided in said casing, so as tobe incapable of turning therein, although free to move rectilinearly,and it has in Fig. 1 a screw-threaded stem a passing through a nut a",situated at the lower end of the casing and capable of revolving withoutotherwise moving on said stem. The periphery of this nut is formed withworm-teeth to gear with a worm a mounted on a spindle a. This spindle isfurnished with a bevel-pinion a, gearing with a correspondingbevel-pinion a on another spindle a", terminating at its upper end in abevel-pinion a. This pinion a gears with a bevel-pinion a on ahorizontal spindle a", which is capable of being turned by means of ahand-wheel (L through gearwheels a a. By revolving this hand-wheel theaforesaid platform or piston a can be caused to rise or fall in thecasinga to the de sired extent for adjusting the spring-controlledfootstep. This mode of supporting and controlling the said shaft alsopermits of its being lifted sufficiently to remove the propeller fromcontact with the spheres, if desired.

a is the spring-buffer, which is provided on the said shaft C at a pointin proximity to the lower end of the bearing A and which operates toprevent the shaft from unduly rising during the working of theapparatus. The

said shaft has two collars a (L between which the spring (1 lies, thelower one of these collars being screw-threaded to engage withcorresponding threads on the shaft. The upper collar a" is loose andliesin contact with the lower end of the bearing A In the event of theshaft C unduly rising the spring a will be compressed and will therebyserve as a buffer to limit the extent of such movement. By turning thelower nut e in one or other direction the degree of resistance of thespring can be thereby regulated. It will be seen that this spring aexerts a pressure on the shaft C in a direction opposed to that of thespring a, so that said shaft is very efficiently supported in aresilient manner. Instead of adjusting the spring a of thefootstep-bearing by toothed gearing, as above described, I may adjustthe same by means of a hydraulic jack D, as shown in Fig. 2.

In some cases I employ at the footstepbearing a pneumatic piston E, asshown in Fig. 3, in which case the resiliency of the air within thecylinder E of said piston will serve the purpose of the spring a whichcan then be dispensed with. Suitable inlet and outlet pipes e e forcompressed air may be provided on the cylinder E and may be controlledby appropriate valves e e for regulating the degree of pressure withinthe said cylinder.

Referring now more particularly to Fig. 4, 0t indicates the chilled orhardened surface of the crushing-path A, and A indicates the partthereof near the upper edge which is left unhardened. In Fig. 4 the saidsurface is supposed to be made separate from the crushing-path andapplied to the latter in the process of erecting the apparatus. For thispurpose the said surface is made with a flange or projection 0, to fit acorresponding recess in the crushing-path A and is held in place bymeans of semicircular rings a, bolted together at their meeting ends.The inner edge a of the surface e is beveled to engage with acorresponding beveled surface in the crushing-path. In Fig. 1 theaforesaid chilled or hardened surface is integral with thecrushing-path. The lower or active edge I) of the propeller B has on itsupper surface lugs b, which engage with corresponding recesses in theadjacent edge 6 of the body of the propeller. Apertures are formedtransversely through the edge 6 and the detachable edge I) for thereception of taper keys or cotters 6 which retain the two edges firmlytogether, but in such a manner as to permit of the edge I) beingconveniently removed from the body of the propeller when worn andrequired to be replaced by a fresh one.

When it is required to adapt my improved apparatus for grinding drymaterial, such as cement, I form a series of openings (1 adj acent tothe crushing-path A, which openings communicate with the air-inletconduit or conduits A. Above the said openings I provide a bafl le ordeflector a for directing the air toward the .sphere or spheres A Thehood or covering A communicates, by means of the conduit or conduits Awith the aforesaid collecting-chamber, and from this chamher the airafter depositing its suspended particles of crushed material in saidcollecting-chamber in the well-known manner may return to the aforesaidopenings at through a pipe or pipes e At the point or points where thesaid pipe or pipes a meet the conduit or conduits A", I provide aninlettube a, which is open to the atmosphere atits outer end, so thatthe current of air drawn or forced through the pipes and conduits e Awill induce a current of external air to en ter through said tube ortubes a and have a cooling effect upon the air traveling in theapparatus. For drawing or forcing the air through the apparatus I mayemploy an exhaust-fan connected with the conduit A or a blower connectedwith the conduit A.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is

1. In a ball crushing-mill, the combination with a ball-raceway, avertical drivingshaft extending through said raceway, and a bell-shapedball-propeller driven by said shaft; of a resilient footstep for saidshaft, a piston or platform vertically adjustable in said footstep andon which the lower end of said shaft directly rests, a spring interposedbetween said shaft and said piston, an adjustable buffer and means foradjusting the piston for the purpose specified.

2. In a ball crushing-mill, the combination with a ball-raceway, avertical drivingshaft extending through said raceway, and a bell-shapedball-propeller driven by said shaft; of a resilient footstep for saidshaft, a piston or platform vertically adjustable in said footstep, aconvex-headed piece adapted to bear against the convex end of the shaft,a spring interposed between said convex-headed piece and the piston, andmeans for ad justing the piston for the purpose specified.

3. In a ball crushing-mi 11, the combination with a ball-raceway, adriving-shaft extending through said raceway, and a bell-shapedball-prop eller driven by said shaft; or a resilient footstep for saidshaft, a piston or platform vertically adjustable in said footstep, aconvex-headed piece adapted to bear against the convex end of the shaft,a spring interposed between said convex-headed piece and the piston, ascrew-threaded extension on said piston, a nut engaging with saidscrewthreaded extension, and means for revolving said nut substantiallyas and for the purpose specified.

4:. In a ball crushingmill, the combination with a ball-raceway, avertical driving-shaft extending through said raceway, and a bellshapedball-propeller driven by said shaft; of an adjustable resilient footstepfor said shaft and on the piston of which the end of said shaft directlyrests, and a buffer-spring opposed to the resilient footstepsubstantially as and for the purpose specified.

5. In a ball crushing-mill, the combination with a ball-raceway, avertical driving-shaft extending through said raceway, and a bell shapedballpropeller driven by said shaft; of an adjustable resilient footstepfor said shaft and on the piston of which the end of said shaft directlyrests, a spring situated around said shaft and adapted to abut at oneend against a stationary part of the mill, a collar on said shaftagainst which the other end ofsaid spring abuts, and means for adjustingsaid collar substantially as and for the purpose specified.

6. In a ball crushing-mill, the combination with a ball-raceway, avertical driving-shaft extending through said raceway, and a bellshapedball-propeller driven by said shaft; of an adjustable resilient footstepfor said shaft and on the piston of which the end of said shaft directlyrests, a sprin situated around said shaft and adapted to ear at itsupper end against a stationary part of the mill, a screw-threaded collarsituated beneath the inner end of said adjustable spring and adjustableon corresponding threads on said shaft, and means for locking saidcollar in its adjusted position substantially as and for the purposespecified.

7. I11 a ball crushing-mill, the combination with a ball-raceway, avertical driving-shaft extending through said raceway, and a bellshapedball-propeller driven by said shaft; of an active surface for saidraceway composed of chilled metal except at the portion near the upperedge thereof which is of unhardened metal a ball-and-socket support at vthe upper end of said propeller and a yielding support for the lower endof said shaft, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

S. In a ball crushing-mill, the combination With a ball-raceway, adriving-shaft extending through said raceway, and a bell-shapedball-propeller driven by said shaft; a balland socket support at theupper end of said propeller, and a yielding support for the lower end ofsaid shaft of a separable active edge for said ball-propeller, and meansfor detachably connecting said edge to said propeller and a detachablesurface for the raceway having its upper edge unhardened substantiallyas and for the purpose specified.

9. In a ball crushing-mill, the combination with a ball-racewav, adriving-shaft extending through said raceway, and a bell-shapedball-propeller driven by said shaft and a resilient footstep for saidshaft and on the piston of which the end of said shaft directly rests;of a crushing-path in said raceway having vertical air-inlet openingsbelow the rect y rests; of a crushing-path in said raceway havingvertical air-inlet openings therein, a baffle or deflector situatedabove said openings, an air-circulating conduit connected with saidopenings, and a tube of re- 15 stricted area situated in said conduitand open to the atmosphere substantially as and for the purposespecified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, in presence of twosubscribing Wit- 2o nesses, this 14th day of November, 1904.

WALTER KITTO.

Witnesses:

T. SELBY WARDLE, WALTER J. SKERTEN.

